Miller/Hornbeck Wedding, 9-12-09

Some images from a wedding we did in McKinney, Texas on September 12, 2009. Held at the historic Heard-Craig Hall, it was a gorgeous evening affair, despite the raging thunderstorm outside! The bride chose chocolate, teal & diamond white as her colors, and what a stunning combination it was! She wore a diamond white strapless dress accented by a mocha beaded sash. Her bridesmaids wore chocolate dresses, and her maid of honor a gorgeous teal dress to match the vests that the groomsmen wore.


The Bridal Cake & Groom's Cake were made by the talented Annie Hall of Annie's Culinary Creations in Murphy, Texas. One of the most talented bakers I have had the privilege to work with, not only are her cakes works of art, they taste as good as they look!






The bridal cake was a 3-tier Italian Cream cake with buttercream icing. The groom's cake was a classic Chocolate, except the shape took it from a yummy cake, to a spectacular LOOKING cake as well!! Add in all those hand-dipped tuxedo strawberries, and it becoming a simply delicious cake cutting.

The bride ordered gorgeous arrangements for her centerpieces, consisting of Antique Green Hydrangeas nestled at the mouth of large 20" cylinder vases with 6" tall Curly Willow branches sprouting from the center. We also hung crystals to reflect the candlelight from below.



These are quickly becoming my "signature" centerpiece....they really are gorgeous, and do make a nice statement, especially if your reception is held in a location with tall, tall ceilings. We help keep the costs reasonable by renting the vases & crystals at prices lower than any other vendor (that we know of!!). Depending on the size of willow & amount of hydrangeas (or if you want additional flowers nestled in the hydrangeas), these range anywhere from $45-$150 per table.

For the bridal bouquet I used dark purple calla lilies nestled among the gorgeous hydrangeas, and accented with Polar Star white roses. The handle was wrapped french-style with teal & chocolate satin ribbons. The groom wore a single dark purple calla lily wrapped in teal ribbon.

The bridesmaids carried a combination of Polar Star Roses & assorted colors of hydrangeas wrapped in chocolate & teal satin ribbons.

Each bouquet was carefully put together by hand, hand tied, and wrapped with luscious double-sided satin ribbons in colors to match the various colors the bride picked out for her special day. The effect was stunning, and each bouquet was unique!!

See our facebook "fan page" for more pictures from this event!

Facebook Photo Album for the Miller/Hornbeck Wedding
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140747&id=98018008614&ref=mf

Next up, photographs from the Zimmerman/Williams Wedding on September 26th, 2009. A gorgeous affair at the El Dorado Country Club in McKinney, Texas.

Cheers from Sunny California!!

-Julia

Adair Weddings has moved!

Adair Weddings is now located in sunny Southern California! We will still be providing services to brides in the DFW area upon request, and look forward to making new contacts in California.

The only real change is that the roses we normally get may be a touch smaller, as the source we normally use isn't a chain. However, the quality of our work will stay the same, and our pricing will still be affordable.

We're running a moving special, take 10% off any floral order! Book your date & place a deposit to hold your date by the end of 2009, and take advantage of the savings. No restrictions on dates, as long as your deposit is in by December 31st, 2009.

Keep an eye out, we'll be posting pictures of a few recent weddings. Combine the move with two HUGE weddings, and we're a little behind on blogging.

Cheers!

BIG Changes on the way!!!

Keep an eye out for some changes, news, and annoucements! Some very exciting things are happening around here in the next couple of months!! (in addition to the one wedding I still need to post pictures from, and the two I have coming up in Sept)

Cheers everyone!


-Julia

June Wedding

A while back I had the pleasure of doing the flowers for a lovely bride, Ashley.

She wore an Ivory beaded strapless gown, and her bridesmaids wore Lavender strapless dresses that had a beaded bodice. The groomsmen wore all black, and the groom wore a black suit. The ties were in shades of lavender, to match the bridesmaids dresses. It was a very chic look, and enabled the bridal party to stay cool in the 100-degree weather! (even at 5pm!!)

Here's some pictures, both from the event, and the flowers before. The photographer was a friend of Ashley's, when I am able to find her name, I will give her credit. She did a fabulous job!

The ceremony was held in Ashley's mother's back yard garden, and they had a reception following. While a simple affair, it was simply stunning! Her mother's back yard is a wonderful place to have a party, even more so for a wedding!

Bridal Bouquet, with Calla Lilies

& Blue Curiosa Roses. Two of the Bridesmaids Bouquets, also with the Calla Lilies, but with Vendela Roses.

All were tied with Ivory Satin ribbon, and the Bridesmaids Bouquets had beautiful organza ribbon bows. I also attached a

lovely little pendant on the Bridal Bouquet for Ashley, it was a Champagne Diamond, to match her Engagement Ring. (she has a lovely Champagne Diamond solitaire!!) I don't have any pictures of it, but it was "something old" for her.

Corsages, Vendela Ivory Roses, and Blue Curiosa Roses with a wired ivory satin bow. Could either be pinned or worn as a wrist corsage.

Some shots of the tables & the red carpet. The centerpieces were sand-filled vases with sea shells & candles, with a scatter of rose petals on around them.

For the aisle that Ashley walked down, she found a gorgeous red carpet, and I scattered rose petals on it. Such a fun touch, the red carpet!

She was such a beautiful bride, and it shows that you don't have to spend a small fortune to have a BEAUTIFUL wedding!!

I was even able to "upgrade" all of her flowers, adding some things she didn't even expect. This is what I love about what I do, being able to provide beautiful items for a bride who may have otherwise had to go down to Costco, buy flowers, and put them together herself.

Next up, photographs from the Jackson-Barlow wedding! A last-minute affair I threw together in 7 days (it was a blast!!)

Twitter!

Adair Weddings is now on Twitter!!

https://twitter.com/AdairWeddings

Nothing very exciting yet.....I can't decide what to "update" about to be honest!! I don't think "the heat is driving me crazy" is interesting...since I'm sure it's driving everyone in Dallas crazy!

Also, sorry for not blogging lately, I've been having a wee bit of trouble getting INTO blogger the past couple of weeks. BUT, I have been writing a bit, I just need to do an edit and copy/paste on here.

Stay cool everyone...seems like summer here in the Big D is going to be WICKED!!! Keep your flowers in the fridge as much as possible before your wedding....no bride wants wilted flowers on her big day!

Ta-Ta for now

Recent Creations

So, yeah, I have been rather remiss in my blogging as of late. It's this brutal transition from spring to summer....ugh! One would THINK that after 10 Dallas summer, I would be used to the brutal heat, scorching sun, and wilting humidity!

However, the heat has NOT stopped the creative machine that I am (hahaha!), here's some recent things I've thrown together, and a view of what happens when you keep curly willow branches around!!

I found these GORGEOUS pink bi-color roses, white roses, and a few solid pink roses, hand-tied (and all the roses are the HUGE ones, I really do try to always work with the larger roses...60-70cm. They just make that much MORE of a statement! And contrary to what many will tell you, they are NOT that much more expensive. Don't settle for 40-cm roses ladies!!!!) with this unique two-tone wired ribbon, accented with a gorgeous antique "something blue" brooch. Even more amazing, I took all the pictures! (in the middle of the night...and even employed a couple new photography tricks!)

A close up of the brooch I stuck on here. Another brooch that I picked up in a lot on ebay (love ebay for wedding items!! IF you know what to look for!!). I put it on here merely for the purpose of taking the picture, so if this brooch is your hearts desire, I am sure I can part with it. It's blue crystals, and tiny little seed "pearls" (not real I am sure). Even further creating the authenticity of it being an antique, it's missing a couple stones. Very much a "something old" item!! I just love this one, it's really one of the more unique brooches I have come across.

Curly Willow is VERY popular for centerpieces. It's gorgeous, TALL, and it really makes a statement. Plus it's not a small fortune. However, I have recently discovered something new about this little branch. When kept in water, water that is changed and kept fresh, it makes roots, THEN it makes new growth! So while the hydrangeas have long since dried out (but I keep them, just because they are still beautiful, plus it's great to see an example of "width" in a centerpiece), these curly willow branches just get prettier!!

As I started only really "tending" 3 of the 5 "sticks", only 3 have sprouted at this point. But you can see in this closeup, how much new growth there is! When I first purchased these about a month ago, they were just sticks, with about 5 green spots.

Now they have roots, and are really sprouting! So my experiment will continue, to see how green I can actually get these suckers. I have faith I can get them pretty green, because the curly willow from the Ling/Lichliter wedding is doing the same thing, it just has about a month head start on mine. I need to pop back down there and take a picture of the two big vases of them, they are GORGEOUS!! We used those HUGE vases (that are really big candle holders from Target), and put the rocks in the bottom. Now the roots are growing into the rocks, the branches just so green & lovely, that I am going to attempt to make the bit I have in MY house do the same thing!!

I didn't take a picture of the roots on MY curly willow yet, because it's not enough to show up on the camera. I estimate a few more weeks, it will really be awesome!!! And yes, those hydrangeas are dead...they've dried out, but still retain their shape, color, etc. I love it!!

A pretty little bouquet. White & Pink roses, Hot Pink Hydrangea, Blue Hydrangea, and these GORGEOUS big leafy green things that I have NO idea what they are, but I have to find out, because they are just awesome!

Side view. You can see the fun "treatment" that I gave the handle...with the chocolate satin ribbon, and chocolate "sparkle" tulle. I don't normally cover the handle entirely, but I thought it would be pretty on this one. Especially with the big green things in the bouquet.

For some reason, I cannot get the second bouquet to "flip" (the photograph!!). It's white roses, bi-color pink roses, with blue hydrangeas throughout. I did the hand-tied effect, on this one I first wrapped the stems with chocolate satin ribbon, and then did a french-style wrap with the turquoise blue ribbon, and added some pearls. A bride of mine, Karen, we are doing something nearly identical, but with just WHITE roses, and then the gorgeous dark purple calla lilies. Her color of blue is a tad lighter, but I believe she's wanting a similar wrap on the handle. Unless I find something so fabulous, she changes her mind! *smiles*

Which brings me to this. So I had mentioned the whole finding dresses on the fly, etc. I found the most GORGEOUS silk Lazaro gown. It's this stunning Ivory silk, but the style, no way, it's such a throwback to the 90's. However, I picked it up so cheap (under $20), I am going to do the unthinkable and take it apart for the fabric. Ivory silk bouquet wraps....how gorgeous will that be? *drools* At a cheaper cost than the synthetic ones I can get through my wholesaler! (and can be completely custom!!)

So, off to find a decent pair of scissors. I lost my really good pair at a recent wedding. WHOOPS!

Wowzers, I've been a little naughty over the past week, not writing anything!! With the holiday weekend, and the last week of school, it's like bam!, things are insane!

I thought I'd cover some cute things today....accessories!! Favors, garters, fun little touches that are what makes a wedding personal!

I came across this fabulous little company the other day, they are based in Miami, GirlyBows, and they make the most exquisite party favors, table decor, and some really "girly" accessories! Great for showers, weddings, birthday parties, etc. I especially love the money/card boxes, and I LOVE that everything is custom made!

http://www.girlybows.com/

Garters...
To wear or not to wear. Brides, even if you aren't going to do the all-famous (and embarrassing!) toss, I think you should wear one, even if only you and your husband are the ones who see it. (and maybe the photographer because he/she took a shot of it before you put it on) It's just a tradition I feel shouldn't be forgotten!! However, there is always the problem of finding ONE that is "you". I mean, who wants the same old boring one from Wal-Mart that everyone else buys? It's not like you can walk into any department store or lingerie department and BUY one either (they really are quite hard to find!!), so many brides turn to the internet. There are many sites that have some gorgeous (and expensive ones), but hey, you only get married once, right? =) Here's some sites I love for this (and one ebay seller that has pretty ones!) Many of these places also sell coordinating accessories for other aspects of your wedding as well. Several do custom orders.

Wedding Favors Unlimited
http://www.weddingfavorsunlimited.com/Wedding_Garters.html

My Garter, personalized & custom garters
http://mygarter.com/

Ice Standard
http://www.icestandard.org/content/view/102/wedding-bridal-garters.html

Eye Catching Creations (Military & Sports themes! Website is a little difficult to navigate)
http://www.eyecatchingcreations.com/mystore/

Trent Valley Mercantile-Canadian Ebay Seller
They do alot of custom items, all is very good quality, and fabulous customer service. What more could a girl ask for?? Oh yeah, they don't charge you a small fortune!
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Trent-Valley-Mercantile__W0QQ_armrsZ1


I have to say, I know I listed several different companies to find garters, but hands down, I recommend the last the most. Their pricing is amazing, and they just have gorgeous items! Debbie is quick to respond, and I always like to recommend small-time merchants if I can. =)


As far as other wedding accessories, ring pillow, guest book, flower girl basket, there are just SO many options out there. Most of the companies I posted in regards to garters also sell these other items, many of them to match the garter. A really neat option for the flower girl & ring bearer is to buy plain white (or ivory) basket/pillow, and then "dress" them up with your wedding colors by using ribbons, crystals, charms, etc. You can take a $6 pillow and turn it into a work of art without spending $45 on something that is going to be used for less than an hour! Same with the basket. If you are really creative, you can actually make these two things.

For the guest book, a fun idea is to use a scrapbook, start a few pages back, and have guests write in their "advice", "best wishes", etc. Then you can add your pictures in after the pages of the written advice, and the first few pages can be your invitation, program, and other items from you wedding (place cards, table numbers, things like that). It's a great keepsake, and you'll have it forever! Plus you can display it on your coffee table! Whereas the normal guestbook, well, if you're like me, it'll be stuck up in a closet for the next million and a half years! In the years since my wedding, that guest book, that was SOOOoooooooooooooooooo important (and that I spend like $40 on!) hasn't been opened more than once. The ONLY reason I've even opened it? Because I was digging in a closet for something and it fell off the shelf it was on and bonked me in the head!

How about instead of buying a $20 pen with the feather & weird stand, taking a few plain Bic pens, wrapping them in ribbons (to match your colors), and topping with various silk flowers. Place these in a ribbon wrapped cup (try ikea for a glass, they are under $1!) or clear glass with some type of rocks or clear gems at the bottom, and voila!, you have a pretty container that is actually pens! You can also take these pens (and you can use gel inks if you want some color & sparkle) and make them like a small flower "garden" by using larger containers. Use some sand in the container, and wrap the pens with green ribbon for a "stem" of the flower at the end. Way cooler than a feather pen (unless you have feathers incorporated in the wedding...which feathers are REALLY fun to use in centerpieces!!)

Voila! Some fun ideas that also save you some money. Great for the bride who likes the whole DIY route, or is super crafty. I've done many of these ideas myself for brides....well, I mean, that IS why you hire a wedding planner......to have someone to do all your wonderful ideas while you enjoy your engagement!

Next time.....why are flowers SO expensive anyway? The myth of Silk VS Real!

Okay, so maybe not. But I'll come up with something interesting.